Sean Curran Dance

This past weekend I had the fortunate opportunity to see the Sean Curran Dance Company at The Joyce. I honestly had no idea what to expect out of the performance, which made me extra nervous because two of my friends who had never seen modern dance live accompanied me. The first piece they performed was "Fireweather." From the start it felt very authentic to the classical nature of the piece. It felt like fate that we saw this piece, as in Literature Humanities we had just finished reading Virgil's The Aeneid and will soon read Dante's Inferno. I was absolutely astounded by the explosive power and quiet intensity of the dancers. I could have watched them move for hours, and this was certainly aided by the choreography. Their depiction of the monsters was beautiful-- the movement quality was on point and consistent. They also showed the beasts through silhouette and lifts, although that effect was lost due to our proximity to the stage. This piece showed the beauty of the human body perfectly.The second piece, entitled "Left Exit," was beautiful in a very different way. It had the intellectual/emotional connection that is so dearly loved in modern dance, but is so rarely done so well. The costumes were not my favorite: going from various traditional religious dress to mismatched patterns to finally all white. I found them to be very distracting, even though the point gained through them was necessary. I felt like the concept could have been conveyed in a less literal manner. This did not, however, detract from my experience. The piece took on the ideas of truth, faith, and acceptance in a very beautiful manner. The movement reflected the soundtrack: most was beautiful and soft with interruptions of dialogue accompanied by sharply expressive movements. The ending caused my friend to shed a lone tear.I was more than pleasantly surprised with this performance. It is always exciting to see a premiere, which is what the first piece was, and the second was a New York premiere. My two friends absolutely loved the pieces and discovered how dance can emotionally affect them in ways that other art forms cannot. There really is something special about watching other humans emote something with such vulnerability.If you have the opportunity to see this company, I highly suggest it. The dancers are of a very high caliber and the choreography is outstanding. To read more official reviews of this performance, check out The New Yorker or The New York Times.Also check out their website, which happens to be where the photo is from.

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I'm Madysen, born and raised in Nebraska but now living out my dreams in New York City. I moved here to go to Columbia, but living in New York has become so much more to me. This blog is a space where I can share my experiences of reconciling my midwestern upbringing with the life I live in the city. But even bigger than that, this blog serves as a space where I can try to understand where I fit into the larger social world, where I want to go in life, and how I want to go about pursuing all of these endeavors.